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A review by syndrie
Lightning in a Mason Jar: A Novel by Catherine Mann
3.0
Overall, this is a story of resilience, new beginnings, and the power of found family—but I struggle to give this one a higher review due to one character's story being significantly more interesting than the other's.
This book mainly focuses on two different POVs told across a variety of years (note that there is a third POV, but it only shows up a couple of times).
First we have Winnie's story, told via flashbacks, about how she escaped her abusive husband and moved on to live a life helping other women do the same. (Not spoiler tagging since the official plot summary quite literally tells you all that already.) Then we also have the present-time POV of Bailey Rae, who came to live with Winnie in what ended up being more of an adopted daughter/niece relationship.
Winnie's story is where all of the action is, and although the plot is fairly predictable, it's still an entertaining read. In comparison, Bailey Rae's portions pretty much had nothing going on and were significantly more predictable. I especially wasn't interested in Bailey Rae's "romance" plot—it feels like the author wanted an enemies-to-lovers situation but immediately dropped that idea as we went from dislike straight into the two having "a moment" only within the next 2-3 chapters.
I'd say if you're looking for an easy read and the plot summary interests you, then this book isn't a bad choice to pick up at all. But I do also think it would've been a better read if the additional POVs had been cut out and Winnie's portions were expanded out to a full length novel instead.
This book mainly focuses on two different POVs told across a variety of years (note that there is a third POV, but it only shows up a couple of times).
First we have Winnie's story, told via flashbacks, about how she escaped her abusive husband and moved on to live a life helping other women do the same. (Not spoiler tagging since the official plot summary quite literally tells you all that already.) Then we also have the present-time POV of Bailey Rae, who came to live with Winnie in what ended up being more of an adopted daughter/niece relationship.
Winnie's story is where all of the action is, and although the plot is fairly predictable, it's still an entertaining read. In comparison, Bailey Rae's portions pretty much had nothing going on and were significantly more predictable. I especially wasn't interested in Bailey Rae's "romance" plot—it feels like the author wanted an enemies-to-lovers situation but immediately dropped that idea as we went from dislike straight into the two having "a moment" only within the next 2-3 chapters.
I'd say if you're looking for an easy read and the plot summary interests you, then this book isn't a bad choice to pick up at all. But I do also think it would've been a better read if the additional POVs had been cut out and Winnie's portions were expanded out to a full length novel instead.